Generally, the longer the product has been around (e.g., gauze), the less complex it is compared to emerging technologies…

…BUT simpler is easy to adopt and, with well established sales, growth on a percentage basis will be low (see area in red).

Generally, new technologies incorporate rarer materials, have more complex construction, and may cost considerably more…

…BUT complex technologies may be far more effective clinically than older technologies and may allow treatment where no older technology could, and with low initial sales (penetrated potential), growth on a percentage bases will be high (see area in green).

Country and Regional Variation in Growth Rates

While this size-to-growth dynamic exists for most product types, the dynamic varies from one geographic region to the next. The time point at which a particular product/technology starts to be more rapidly adopted — or the rate at which use of established products are use starts to decline — can vary considerably from country to country.

As a result, there will be variability in sales growth rates for a product in one country/region versus another.

For example, the 2017 to 2026 compound annual growth rate in sales of Alginates in wound management range from a low of 5.3% in one country to a high of 24.3% in another country. (If you make alginates, in which country would YOU like to compete?)

Regionally, as in USA versus Europe versus Asia/Pacific, etc., there is less variation in growth rates for any given product in that region. For alginates:

In other words, the difference between the countries with the highest and lowest CAGRs for alginate sales is 19%, while the difference between regions shows one region with a 7.8% higher CAGR for alginates than the lowest growth region.

Over the 2017 to 2026 period, the compound annual growth rate for the entire wound management market will approach 6%, a respectable rate of growth for an established market, though not quite high enough to encourage investment in the market as a whole.

Of course, the total wound market is comprised of a number of VERY large, slow-growing segments, like traditional adhesive dressings, gauze dressings, and non-adherent dressings, which have annual sales at $3.8 billion, $3.2 billion, and $1.3 billion, respectively.

The large volume, slow growth of the aggregate masks growth in the following segments:

Bioengineered skin and skin substitutes

Alginates

Foam dressings

Growth factors

These wound care segments have had, and will continue to have, annual growth rates at or near double-digit through 2026.

The end result of variable growth rates is that the 2026 Wound Care Market (worldwide), by comparison to 2017, will show the following changes (up/down) in each segment’s share of the total market.

Whether sales growth arises by a preferred adoption of one technology over another or by better than average economic conditions — or both, sales of wound management products are driven by technology adoption rates that vary by country, clinical practice patterns, reimbursement and other variables.

We assessed current and forecast sales for the following products:

Traditional Adhesive Dressings

Traditional Gauze

Traditional Non-Adherent

Film

Foam

Hydrogel

Hydrocolloid

Alginate

Antimicrobial

Negative Pressure Wound Therapy

Bioengineered Skin & Skin Substitutes

Growth Factors

For all product segments but the traditional adhesive, gauze, and non-adherent wound care products (which were assessed only at the global level), we assessed growth in each of the following countries/regions: Americas (USA, Rest of North America, Latin America), Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Rest of Europe), Asia/Pacific (Japan, Korea, Rest of Asia/Pacific), and Rest of World.

From our examination (report #S251) of the global market for wound management products, below are the top product-country cohorts in terms of projected compounded sales growth from 2015 to 2024.

See the newest global wound management market report (published December 2012), Report #S249, “Wound Management, Worldwide Market and Forecast to 2020: Established and Emerging Products, Technologies and Markets in the Americas, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Rest of World.”

In results presented in a poster session at the 24th Annual Clinical Symposium on Advances in Skin and Wound Care (San Antonio, TX), the Advanced Wound Management Division of Smith & Nephew highlighted that gauze-based negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) can achieve the same treatment goals as foam-based NPWT, which are a reduction in wound dimension, exudate, and improvement in granulation tissue.

One of the most dramatic, and perhaps surprising, recent developments in the advanced wound management sector has been the meteoric rise of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) technology, spearheaded by the V.A.C. approach developed by Kinetic Concepts Inc. (KCI). This has driven growth in the “physical treatment” market segment to exceed $1.2 billion. In 1989, Mark Chariker and Katherine Jeter developed a technique utilizing standard surgical dressings and wall suction to create a “vacuum” that aided in wound healing. In 1997, Dr. Michael Morykwas and Dr. Lewis Argenta studied the use of suction applied to polyurethane foam in wounds. Shortly after, KCI launched its product, the V.A.C.® and later received Medicare B approval. In early September 2009, Kinetic Concepts received Japanese regulatory approval to begin selling the V.A.C. device in that country. The company expects sales to commence in the first half of 2010.

Further innovations into the use of closed wound suction were made by BlueSky Medical with the Versatile One® System. Then in 2007, Smith & Nephew acquired BlueSky Medical and brought all that company’s products under the Smith & Nephew umbrella. Since the purchase of BlueSky, S&N has devoted considerable resources to contest KCI’s hold on the lion’s share of the market for NPWT devices.

More details on the study and its results from Smith & Nephew are given here. The trial was a prospective, multi-center clinical evaluation assessed 131 non-grafted patients at 21 centers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

While the huge $5 billion global market for wound management technologies may not suggest it, many of its products are designed to target the high cost of wound healing. Chronic wounds and non-healing wounds. See the 2009 MedMarket Diligence report.

FOOTHILL RANCH, CA — Advanced wound management technologies — those used in the clinical management of wounds (not OTC) — represent a $5 billion global market that will triple in the next ten years. These technologies have continued to evolve beyond simple dressings and bandages to be able to accelerate wound healing, improve clinical outcomes and, in particular, attempt to reduce the cost of managing wound types like arterial, venous, diabetic and stasis ulcers.

The distribution of the advanced wound care market across these different wound care types has continued to shift, especially with the development and application of more expensive wound care technologies, which have been incentivized by the high cost of chronic wounds. Physical therapies, which include negative pressure devices, positive pressure devices, mechanically assisted wound closure, hydrotherapy, electrical stimulation, ultraviolet therapy and others, are demonstrating the largest relative growth.

The MedMarket Diligence report, "Worldwide Wound Management, 2009: Established and Emerging Products, Technologies and Markets in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Rest of World," published September 2009, details the complete range of products and technologies used in wound management and wound care, from dressings, bandages, hydrogels, tissue engineered products, physical treatments and others. The report details current clinical and technology developments in this huge worldwide market with high growth sectors, with data on products in development and on the market; market size and forecast; competitor market shares; competitor profiles; and market opportunity. The report provides full year (actual) 2008 market size and share data, with forecast market data to 2017, for the U.S., Europe, Asia/Pacific and Rest of World.

"The intense focus of healthcare reform on the cost of medical technologies might examine wound management as a cost driver, but the reality of products and development in this area is that the high cost of chronic or non-healing wounds is the prime target of the wound management industry’s efforts," says Patrick Driscoll of MedMarket Diligence, publisher of the 2009 Worldwide Wound Management Market report. According to Driscoll, the high direct and indirect costs of chronic wounds have created an economic opportunity that sustains advanced technology development. This does not make wound care exempt from the focus of healthcare reform, but does weaken the argument against the "high costs" of advanced technology development.